


Magic

by coalitiongirl_ficlets (coalitiongirl)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-03-21 19:46:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3703371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coalitiongirl/pseuds/coalitiongirl_ficlets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina and Zelena: the magic that one can't touch and the sister the other won't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Magic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ellabell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellabell/gifts).



> Another Tumblr prompt, AU where Regina and Zelena grew up together. (I have one or two of these left to post and then I'll sneak in some heartlines soon, lol~)

Regina starts using magic when she’s a baby. It’s all little things, like reaching for toys that are suddenly right in front of her crib or the lamps in their room casting hot red light when she’s crying. But Zelena sees it and Zelena  _knows_ , little three-year-old Zelena who’s already casting spells under Mother’s watchful eyes and is careful to always meet expectations but never exceed them.  _Never exceed them_. Zelena already senses how dangerous Mother can be with the unexpected.

So Zelena hovers over Regina, undoes whatever Mother might find out about and whispers over her crib,  _Shh. Be careful. Be quiet_.

Mother finds out anyway and suddenly Regina’s magic just…stops. Zelena had been doing magic at Regina’s age but she’d never meant it, she’d never had the tight control that Regina already seems to be working on mastering. And when Regina’s magic goes away, Zelena knows that Mother must have done something. When Regina quivers with fear whenever their mother holds her, Zelena knows that it had been terrifying.

The shaking stops in time but Regina’s magic never returns, and by the time she’s five, she’s watching Zelena with curiosity when doors open for her and when she makes her peas disappear at the table. Zelena takes her out to the meadow and asks her,  _Can you keep a secret?_ Regina nods eagerly and Zelena touches the ground and shows her how a little flower bursts free, bright and strong. Regina cries out like she’s in pain and falls back and that’s how Zelena realizes that Regina’s magic is somehow sealed.

She doesn’t know how to release it and she thinks, looking at Mother, that it might be a bad idea to try. Zelena is the bastard daughter, the irrelevant one who can hide away muttering curses to herself while Regina is a queen. She’d envy Regina for it if she didn’t see how Mother primes her for it, how Regina is punished more harshly and taught to be silent and graceful and obedient. Mother punishes Zelena, too, but it’s with the carelessness with which she punishes the help.

She might envy Regina a little.

Regina is always smaller than her, always delicate, and Zelena is afraid to hold her too tightly or even kiss her chubby little cheeks. Animals are quick to flee from her and the other girls in town whisper amongst themselves and watch her as though there’s something not quite right about her, as though she’s already the witch her mother is. Zelena is cautious around Regina even when she shows her magic-  _I won’t change your dress, I won’t do your hair!_ \- almost afraid that the wrong touch might make her hurt like Mother had.

Regina grows into a girl, slow of step and garbed in fluffy dresses, and Zelena’s magic is their little secret for a long time. With Mother, Zelena learns to throw fire and break necks and yank hearts out of bodies. With Mother, magic is harsh and intoxicating and makes her want to  _hurt, hurt, hurt_. With Regina, it’s secret smiles and gentle touches and bright rooms full of laughter. She’s a giggling girl with Regina and she’s terrified and powerful with Mother and she doesn’t know which she prefers sometimes.

Still, though, on days when she’s lying in bed and listening to Regina curled in the bed opposite hers, whispering fears to her-  _I don’t want to be like Mother. I want to love my children. Zelena, I don’t want us to be like Mother_ \- she lights the room with softly glowing greens and dreams of being someone better.

She fights back against Mother when she has the strength, but it’s so Regina will see that she can; see that there’s more to them than just  _whoever Mother wants us to be_. Regina loves to ride but horses spook around Zelena and Zelena sometimes spooks around Regina, so instead she draws rainbows only they can see that stretch from her to wherever Regina goes. Zelena stays away from Regina when they’re out with other girls, knowing how they see her; but Regina slaps one of them for calling Zelena names and neither of them spend much time with other girls anymore.

Regina becomes a teenager and Mother takes a sharp tack with her, forces her even deeper into the mold she’s built for her. She hides in the stables instead of going to lessons and Zelena makes the tutor forget that Regina had been scheduled to arrive at all. Regina grows older still and Mother begins to bring her to balls, to introduce her to princes, and she tells Zelena all about each of them with the excitement of someone who still doesn’t know what awaits her. Zelena holds her hands and wills magic not to hurt Regina. Never to hurt Regina.

Regina’s father is kind to both of them and they’re fortunate when he’s the one to see them playing games with Zelena’s magic, Zelena making the clouds move into shapes while Regina guesses what they are. He warns them,  _Don’t do that again or your mother won’t take kindly to it_ and Regina nods earnestly for a moment and winks at Zelena.

When Regina is eighteen, Mother nets her a king. She sobs into Zelena’s pillow and lies on her bed while Zelena keeps a careful distance from the floor,  _DanielDanielDaniel_ and  _I can’t be his queen, please, Zelena, do something_ , and there’s nothing to do but help her run away.

Mother finds out. Mother always finds out. And this time Zelena miscalculates and she’s lying on the floor, pinned down by Mother’s magic while Regina sobs over Daniel’s body, and Zelena disregards her fear of her magic when Mother is gone, crawls over to Regina and holds her close.

She kisses her gently on the forehead and  _magic_ happens, just as she’d feared, but it’s  _different_. It doesn’t burn like Mother’s way, and it feels more like secret rainbows in the sky. It shines and expands like a massive shockwave, like some kind of magic she can never access, like  _true love’s kiss_ and another dream she knows she’ll never have.

And Regina’s hands glow with magic as though Mother’s seal on her powers has disappeared, just like that, and the stable glows with hot red light as she weeps in Zelena’s embrace.


End file.
